Starting off, I had only experienced this substance once before at a low dosage, where I only experienced a bit of sharpness and colour vibrancy, but nothing really comparable to this proper experience. I smoke weed here and there and have experience with mescaline, and I've also done salvia a few times (all of which have been more than pleasant experiences). So far the only 'bad trip' I've had is on an overly potent batch of brownies, which was more of a delirious feeling than anything else. Overall I was feeling confident about pursuing the psychedelic experience further than I did with mescaline.

At around 5:00pm on the shoreline of a great lake beach, I decided to swallow the gelcap I had prepared. We are camping at a nearby site, and I was with my girlfriend (who I will refer to as 'L'). She was debating whether or not it was appropriate for her to take one as well. She wouldn't begin her dose until 2 hours after mine was consumed. Both of us are on totally empty stomachs, and otherwise were in a decent mood; the morning was raining hard, and cold, but it seemed to be clearing up.

We had chairs stationed at the beach, which was fairly vacant due to the intense winds and coldness in the air. The cold was getting to me on an uncomfortable level so I decided we should go use the camp showers to warm up. We left our things where they were and made way to get clean, and parted ways to separate showers.

Approximately 30 minutes have passed by the time I step into the shower room. I was feeling some intense anxiety and a very dissociated feeling, similar to being lightheaded from a constant headrush, though much more intense. The sounds surrounding the peripheral of the shower were very sharp, and there was a high pitched electric sound about the room, at an uncomfortable volume. As well, there were toilets flushing, and hand dryers roaring around me. The tiles on the wall began to pinch, breathe, and close in on me. The light in the ceiling started looking strange and sinister, and soon it was too much for me.

I ran out of the shower, panicky, and luckily run into L. She was wondering where we wanted to meet after our showers. The question simply faded out of my mind, all I could say was 'I can't do this', as I pointed to the shower door. Her face had taken on a tremendous colour shift, where portions of her face were a vibrant orange and yellow in the highlights, and a cold blue in the shadows. There was so much detail and colour to her entire face, it locked me in for a moment. At a second glance, her eyes began to ooze down her face, and overall it was just warping in a bizarre fashion. 'Your face is melting, L.', I say before giggling in a slightly anxious panicky way, realizing that I'm already tripping. It had only been a half hour!

L is happy, and knows 'what's up' (she has far more experience with psychedelics than myself), and guides me back to the campsite. Upon arrival all I want to do is just look around; everything is moving. The ground is squirming like a snakey membrane, trees are thrashing around in a dance. I stood over the blue towel at the base of our tent; I couldn't believe the vibrancy of the colours, and the intense movement within it. 'That's just our dirty foot rag, you realize that right?' L tells me. I wasn't even aware of the towel's purpose, it's aesthetics and liveliness were much more important to me. I began to find that quality in nearly everything. I notice bright yellow pixels dancing around L's head, where there was previously a swarm of small bugs flying. There are tiki torches in the campsite behind where she's standing, and the flames were trailing into whatever I was to look at next, and animate slightly.

For the record, I am colourblind; I have a red-green deficiency, and normally greens appear fairly grey, with almost no hue at all. Blues appear very dull and grey, and most reds are confused with green and browns of similar value. All of this was out the door after the 4-aco-dmt had kicked in, and boy was it a treat to see so much vibrancy in things that I had never experienced before.

boy was it a treat to see so much vibrancy in things that I had never experienced before.

For the next 40 or so minutes I lay down in the tent where the sun is illuminating the coloured walls of the tent. There is a hue shift in the intense red fabric, which 'squirmed' from colour to colour, in a way. It crawled from red to orange to green and back again. The black poles on the ceiling of the tent were a bright blue, and I couldn't even perceive them as black if I were to try. Everything in the tent had a red glow to it, and everything seemed to have a colour fringe on the edges that was either yellow or blue. I pointed this out to L but she couldn't see it. I was so incredibly excited about seeing these colours I normally have no perception of, it was overwhelming.

L had offered me a whippet (Nitrous), which I gladly accepted. As she was preparing it for me in the dispenser, I began to get a more synchronized grasp on the experience. I felt more in control of the headspace, and understanding of it. I also felt this underlying feeling of acceptance towards flamboyancy, mostly derived from how I was appreciating the beauty in colour, and subtler things I found beautiful in textures, or qualities in people. I felt like I understood where the appeal hipsters and the like gravitate towards with regards to psychedelic graphic styles, clothing, etc. While it felt more accepting, I didn't by any means think I was a part of it at all.

The whippets came and went, and the recurring element in each one was a great amount of electricity surging in all the textures and colours around me. There was a deep void when closing my eyes, as I always confront, where I am beckoned to stay with it, longer than the last time. After L opened the tent flap, the first thing to come out of my mouth was 'Holy green...'; I had never witnessed so much vibrancy in greens in my life.

We make way towards the beach, and I have a confident feeling within me, empowered by the knowledge that nobody knows I'm tripping, and that I can enjoy myself without them interfering my bubble, nor mine to theirs. We climb a sand dune with footprints on it, knowing it will take us to the beach. At the peak of the dune I see the most amazing sunset I've ever laid eyes on. It looked like mother nature was truly working her magic; clouds were layered in colours warm and the sun was enormous. The waves in the water were the most captivating, being that they were such an interesting metallic salmon colour. Taking it all in felt amazing. At this point, L decides it's the perfect time for her to take her dose of the 4-aco-dmt. It's only been two hours since I'd consumed my dose by this point.

We run quickly back to the campsite to grab my camera bag, water and some other little things, and then straight back to the beach. The wind is roaring when we arrive, and our chairs which we'd left there for hours now had been blown over. The view of the sky and the water and the sand was all awe inspiring, and having all of the things in front of us that were there was like stepping into a beautiful romantic style painting. We pulled out the camera gear and fired away. We captured some of the best scenes I'd ever witnessed, and told L that, 'If these were the last pictures I were to ever take, I'd be perfectly happy with it'.

In the middle of taking pictures, L was telling me she was getting a feeling of anxiety, and she sat down. It starts to intensify, and I know exactly what she's in for having felt it a few hours prior. We set down our things and go to the dunes for awhile, and she starts to notice fantastic movement in the sand. It was far warmer here, and her anxiety began to ease. By this time I was certainly past the peak, but it was still a fantastic headspace, full of empathy and warmth. We both began to feel intense appreciation for nature, and L decided to pull some trash out of the otherwise untainted dunes.

We traveled back out to the beach, and it's about 8:30pm. We're both laughing a lot and happy beyond anything, totally anxiety free, and in the best mood I'd ever been in. L was wearing heart-rimmed glasses, which I tried on, and it gave everything a warm colour temperature, and high contrast look, which was incredible to see (I deemed these 'love vision' glasses). I danced around for a bit with the heart glasses on, carefree. Everything was looking spectacular through them and without them on. At this point L was at her peak, and having a blast.

The gradual comedown of the 4-aco-dmt was empathetic, optimistic, and gentle. A very positive afterglow carried out into the evening as night fell. It was hard to leave the breathtaking scene we'd been witnessing the entire time, but the wind was incredibly intense and it seemed almost as if we were being pushed away from the scene. With a burst of adrenaline I carried more things than I should have back to the campsite, as did L.

At the campsite I began making a fire; chopping wood was feeling awkward to me, and my empathy towards nature was making it pretty difficult to chop with all my strength to break it to pieces. I overcame that thought knowing we needed the light and warmth; however, soon after, we decided it would be cozier to just relax in the tent.

As the tripping for L swept into the night, we went on some walks towards the beach at night. I had smoked two generous hits of weed after feeling pretty well finished from my trip (however still feeling a great afterglow), but the weed didn't add much, and in fact added a bit of uncertainty int he air, and paranoia. Our night walks gravitated towards being afraid of the intimidating winds, and the roaring waves that I saw us approaching. L was quite content, and willing to venture out further, but I was beginning to feel uncomfortable so we headed back to the campsite.

After L hooped for a bit, we went back into the tent and our fantastic evening came to a close.

Overall this was an amazing experience. I could not have imagined tripping on this substance would be so breathtaking, and so entertaining in so many ways. The obliteration of anxiety and moodiness was an empowering feeling, and having a clear view of all the colours I was seeing was something to remember forever. I will definitely be pursuing more psychedelic adventures in the future~